The 2008 Kiefer work “Domenica Delle Palme” executed in
plaster, branch, red clay in a glass and metal frame, sold for
HK$3.4 million, compared with a presale high estimate of HK$3
million, according to Sotheby’s website.

A gunpowder painting by New York-based Chinese artist Cai
sold for HK$2.2 million while works by Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer
and Quinn also found buyers, showing that Asian collectors are
broadening their tastes.

“The sale proved that Asian buyers cannot be reduced to
one mainstream taste,” Isaure del Viel Castel, head of mid-season sales contemporary and modern, fine art department at
Sotheby’s, said in a telephone interview after the sale. She
added that Asian collectors are becoming “more diverse.”

The sale was pitched at a younger generation of collectors
and those who are new, by offering less expensive works by major
artists, she said. A Warhol screenprint went for HK$750,000, a
Damien Hirst work on canvas for HK$350,000 and a Zao Wou-ki work
sold for HK$5.8 million.

Asian buyers in search of top modern and contemporary works
will still need to look to London or New York. On Nov. 5,
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin paid $28.2 million for a
Picasso at Christie’s New York.